FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (March 21, 2018) – Vice Speaker Therese M. Terlaje, with co-sponsorship from Senator Telena C. Nelson, introduced Bill 265-34 (COR), a bill that seeks to ban bump-fire stock firearm attachments and increase penalties and fines for the possession of illegal firearms. Under current Guam law, possession of machine guns and other automatic weapons are already illegal. However, bump-fire stock firearm attachments and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns are not specifically banned.
In the Las Vegas concert massacre that took place in October of 2017, the shooter was able to fire around 1,100 rounds in just 10 minutes (110 rounds per minute), injuring over five hundred people and killing fifty-eight (58) people, using bump-fire stock firearm attachments. At the direction of the President, the U.S. Department of Justice recently submitted notice of a proposed regulation banning bump stocks by reclassifying the device as a machine gun, following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Bill 265-34 (COR) will also increase the penalties and fines for the possession, sale or transfer of prohibited machine guns, automatic rifles and silencers from not less than 3 years to a minimum of 5 years imprisonment and from not less than $1,000 to a minimum of $10,000. Penalties for these acts are significantly higher in many other jurisdictions.
On March 07, 2018, Vice Speaker Terlaje together with Senator Telena C. Nelson and Senator Joe S. San Agustin held a roundtable discussion on existing gun laws, penalties and standard operating procedures related to deterring gun violence in schools with panel members from the Office of the Attorney General, the Guam Police Department, the Judiciary of Guam and GDOE. During the discussion, Attorney Genera Barrett-Anderson stated that current Guam firearm laws were fairly stringent, but could always be improved upon. Both Barrett-Anderson and GPD panel members agreed that bump-fire stock attachments were problematic because the device simulates automatic fire.
“Students and parents have expressed concern for the epidemic of mass shootings taking place in the U.S. Mainland and have asked that we do more to prevent these tragedies from happening in our own community. Bill 265-34 is one proactive measure to prevent gun violence in our schools and improve our gun laws to deter gun related violence in our community,” stated Vice Speaker Terlaje.
Therese M. Terlaje is the Chairperson for the Legislative Committee on Culture and Justice